The Real Jets Controversy

ENLARGE

New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez talks to running back Shonn Greene while on the bench during the second half of his team's 7-6 win over Arizona.
AP

By

Jason Gay

Dec. 3, 2012 10:38 p.m. ET

The New York Jets probably aren't going to win the Super Bowl this season. This is pessimistic, perhaps harsh, but someone's got to be a sober realist around here. The Jets are currently 5-7, and when one assesses this record, the only mystery is how this tormented team actually won itself five games. The Jets have lost spectacularly more than once this year, in a manner that has made one question not just their preparedness as football players, but as human beings leaving the house. They fell 34-0 at home versus San Francisco; 30-9 versus wobbly Miami; and 49-19 in a Thanksgiving home rout to New England that climaxed with quarterback Mark Sanchez colliding with the rear end of one of his linemen and fumbling. After that contest, the franchise's most recognizable fan, Fireman Ed, resigned from his unofficial role as booster, claiming the atmosphere at Jets games was too hostile. This was a little bit like resigning from a fish restaurant because it was serving fish.

On Sunday, the Jets defeated the remaining feathers of the Arizona Cardinals, a club that began its season 4-0, but has not won since September. The final score was 7-6. Somehow, the game was less thrilling than the score. The "news," if there was news, was the Jets sitting Sanchez in favor of third-stringer Greg McElroy, who was pushed into the understudy role because of an injury to usual second-stringer Tim Tebow. McElroy led the Jets on their only scoring drive, concluding in a one-yard touchdown pass, and finished the afternoon throwing 5 of 7 passes for 29 yards, with no turnovers. Not flashy. But not a disaster.

Now there is pressure on Jets head coach Rex Ryan to make a decision about the team's quarterbacking future, as if there's great urgency to the matter. The Jets have four games left, and they're all against misery—Jacksonville, Tennessee, San Diego and Buffalo. If you look closely at the AFC playoff picture, and then drink half a bottle of spiced rum, you can come up with the hypothesis that if the Jets win their four remaining games, they could squeak into the postseason. I guess. That kind of thing happens from time to time, like cats winning the lottery.

The more likely scenario is that the Jets do not qualify for the playoffs, for the second consecutive year. Most reasonable fans reached this conclusion long ago, and so the current fascination with the Jets quarterback situation resembles someone tinkering with the engine of a car that's sitting up on concrete blocks. Does this matter? What are the stakes? If the Jets indeed have a quarterback controversy, it's a low-grade controversy. This is not San Francisco, where a bona fide Super Bowl contender is wrestling between a pair of talented, distinct choices.

For the Jets, the big issue, of course, is what Sunday's surrender means for Sanchez, a quarterback who managed to lead his team to consecutive AFC title games, but appears to be regressing. Sanchez has been victimized by poor protection and injuries to offensive weapons, and his confidence appears shaken. The Jets may have undermined Sanchez with their off-season maneuvering to get Tim Tebow, but it's also true that Tebow has been, at best, a meek threat to Sanchez's long-term security. The job has been Sanchez's to lose, and versus the Cardinals, he lost it—not to Tebow, but the other dude.

If McElroy rises and Sanchez fades in this shrinking season, it's hard not to wonder what becomes of this club as constructed. Not long ago, Ryan and the Jets were such entertaining arrivistes—talking loud and playing loud, reveling in the attention this city will lavish upon a noisy target. But there was always a risk that the act would grow old, and that's the burden that has overwhelmed this imperfect club. Whoever plays quarterback next Sunday will provide a pleasant distraction. But the real controversy is Jets vs. Jets—and whether or not this team needs to go back and start all over again.

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